by Rae Hilhorst

Writing Better Blog Posts

I am very lucky, a few Monday’s ago I attended a morning workshop on Writing Better Blog Posts with Amanda Kendle

There was coffee, chocolate cake, made by Agnes, (the cake was divine, light airy and chocolaty topped with Maltese’s) gentle critiquing and words of wisdom were exchanged. A great opportunity to re meet a blogger friend and be introduced to new ones.

Hello again to Agnes from Taste Travel Talk, and Shannon from Relentless

We laughed, thankfully we didn’t cry, and as usual I learnt a lot on writing better posts

Tone

Focus

Images

Headings

SEO (search engine optimisation)

Proofread

The best feedback I got was that I don’t use full stops, therefore my posts were exhausting to read. So I have now started adding the full stops which is exhausting for me. But a month later, I think I am getting the hang of it.

I am developing a lot of power points at the moment for work, this is where I think I may have got into the habit of not adding full stops. (this might also explain why I run out of breath when I am using the Power Points) However that’s no excuse for no full stops.

A month later I also think is a good time to revisit my notes, as old habits are easy to return to.

The Saturday before I attended a writing course, Crafting personal essays-how to shape your life experiences for the page, with Rachel Robertson through the UWA Extension Program. What a great experience, the room was filled with very inspirational woman and two men, all of whom were either in the middle the beginning or the end of writing their stories.

What got me to this point:

My dad turns 80 next year, he has so many memories, experiences, thoughts and feelings that we as a family don’t really know much about. What made him tick, what was his life like, did he achieve what he wanted, is there still something out there that he wants to do, what are his regrets. The answer to some of these questions we will never know, so this is how and why I ended up at the course, a journey of discovery.

My dad, isn’t he handsome, I think he must have only been about 19 years of age here, I have a brother who is the spitting image of him.

In happy times, what a beautiful wedding dress. xxx

I want to leave something behind for my family, for if they wish they can reflect on the why’s:

we act

we do

we think

we follow

we speak

The way we do, what we do, the WHAT THA!

My aim is to write my childhood story, (through a series of Essay’s) having come from a very dysfunctional family and a somewhat strange mother, what made her tick and act out the way she does (I don’t know how to express that), a funny and I am sure sometimes sad reflection of growing up in Auckland New Zealand in the 60’s and 70’s.

My mother around the age of 19 years

But this is how it will start:

The story I have to tell is far from over. How did we get from there to here and survive.

Lets talk about one of my earliest memories……..The Zoo and the scratchy hat.